Retired University of North Carolina professor Julius Nyang'oro, who ran the African and Afro-American studies department for 20 years, is the center of focus in a criminal indictment issued last month. 19 undergraduates signed up for his course AFAM: 280 Blacks in North Carolina in the summer of 2011, and it is now being revealed by officials that the course never met. The class was one of dozens of courses in the department that officials say were taught "incompletely or not at all." The indictment served up by the grand jury charged Nyang'oro with "unlawfully, willfully and feloniously" accepting payment "with the intent to cheat and defraud" the university in connection with the AFAM course. That the fraud has taken place at Chapel Hill, known for rigorous academic standards, has made the case even more shocking. Two reports on the department found problems with dozens of courses and reported as many as 560 suspected unauthorized grade changes. Athletes made up almost half of the students enrolled in the dubious courses...

Former UNC Professor Indicted for Fraud

Retired University of North Carolina professor Julius Nyang'oro, who ran the African and Afro-American studies department for 20 years, is the center of focus in a criminal indictment issued last month. 19 undergraduates signed up for his course AFAM: 280 Blacks in North Carolina in the summer of 2011, and it is now being revealed by officials that the course never met. The class was one of dozens of courses in the department that officials say were taught "incompletely or not at all." The indictment served up by the grand jury charged Nyang'oro with "unlawfully, willfully and feloniously" accepting payment "with the intent to cheat and defraud" the university in connection with the AFAM course. That the fraud has taken place at Chapel Hill, known for rigorous academic standards, has made the case even more shocking. Two reports on the department found problems with dozens of courses and reported as many as 560 suspected unauthorized grade changes. Athletes made up almost half of the students enrolled in the dubious courses. By Jordan Moses